So, anyone noticed my new Avatar ?

[Level42]

Anyone know what it is ?

[CheffoJeffo]

I did notice and did think it was cool.

All my coin op stuff is post nixie-tube, but I always spend some time checking for them in the "big-bin-o-tubes" at the local electronics salvage place ... because you never know when you're gonna need some.

 

[patrickl]

The file is called Nixie.gif 

Haven't ever seen one of these though. I think.

[Mauzy]

I just did a short history of pinball report showing the evolution of its electronics about 2 weeks ago and that was included under the scoring section. I noticed, I just never know when to say something about it in a thread (fear of hijacking)

[DaOld Man]

I thought it was the opening of the later "Lost in Space" series, just played in reverse.

[Level42]

Hehe, you cheated.

I like them.

I remember seeing them at the Evoluon in Eindhoven (Former Philips museum of technology). I'm not sure, but I think they had man-sized one's that counted the number of visitors, but that also may be my memory messing up.

Well, of course the internet would have a picture of it:



This is a picture from a movie about the Evoluon. You can see the "Nixie's" in action in the beginning:




Drifting off, but man did that bring back some memories. What a great building it is....(www.evoluon.org).

Anyway, back to the nixies: I think the one's at the Evoluon were merely neon tubes inside plastic, but then again, Nixies _are_ neon of course.

Nixies were used before there were LED and LCD displays for digit indication. Because they were quite expensive, they were only used in labs and some early (expensive) calculators.

The funny thing is that now you can combine these great old Nixies with some modern day electronics to build a great looking clock. You have to see a Nixie for real to understand it's looks.

Here's a site with Nixie clocks:



http://nixieclocks.de (also in English)

[Level42]

B.t.w. How do I edit that GIF file so that it only shows the 4 and the 2 ?

[AllisterFiend]

I bought a Nixie tube clock a few years ago (it was pretty pricey).

When people walk into my office it is one of the first things they ask about.

http://www.nixieclock.net/pd1102626684.htm?categoryId=0

(I purchased the one in the link above.)

Allister Fiend

[patrickl]

B.t.w. How do I edit that GIF file so that it only shows the 4 and the 2 ?

With a GIF animator:

[Thenasty]

B.t.w. How do I edit that GIF file so that it only shows the 4 and the 2 ?

you can use Paint Shop Animation (I think, it's been a while).

[Level42]

B.t.w. How do I edit that GIF file so that it only shows the 4 and the 2 ?

With a GIF animator:

Brilliant Patrick, Thanks

[Thenasty]

B.t.w. How do I edit that GIF file so that it only shows the 4 and the 2 ?

With a GIF animator:

Brilliant Patrick, Thanks

I like 69 better

What is 42 ? If it was 442, then I might have guess the Oldsmobile Car.

[Level42]

42....


Level 42 !


My favorite band of the 80's


And they derived the name from a book called "The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy". A book everyone should read. In this book the question of the meaning of life is finally answered by the biggest and most brilliant computer ever. And the answer, naturally, is: 42.

[WunderCade]

Hope the book was better than the movie. The Hitch-hickers guide to the Galaxy was a corny, stupid movie IMO.

[Edgedamage]

OHHHH GOD!!!! I am old I used to play this game in my local arcade!!
http://marvin3m.com/arcade//supshif.htm

Cool site with projects built:
http://www.electricstuff.co.uk/nixiegallery.html

[AllisterFiend]

Hope the book was better than the movie. The Hitch-hickers guide to the Galaxy was a corny, stupid movie IMO.

I'm a big fan of the book... IMO, the movie completely sucked, I actually fell asleep at the theater.  If you get a chance, check out the book, much better. 

I have heard of a british version of Hitchhikers.  They say that one is much better (I think it was set up as a mini series, or it could have been different episodes.)

Allister Fiend

[ChadTower]

Anyone know what it is ?

No.  And it does make your thighs look fat.

[saint]

Hope the book was better than the movie. The Hitch-hickers guide to the Galaxy was a corny, stupid movie IMO.

You haven't read the books? Holy cow, that's like saying you haven't seen Star Wars. Seriously, do yourself a favor, and read them.


Wow.

[ChadTower]

They were the first novel length books I read in English.  Looking back it's a wonder I didn't give up on the language entirely.   

[bishmasterb]

Hope the book was better than the movie. The Hitch-hickers guide to the Galaxy was a corny, stupid movie IMO.

I'm a big fan of the book... IMO, the movie completely sucked, I actually fell asleep at the theater.  If you get a chance, check out the book, much better. 

I have heard of a british version of Hitchhikers.  They say that one is much better (I think it was set up as a mini series, or it could have been different episodes.)

Allister Fiend

I was disappointed with the movie as well.

Of course, before it was a book it was a radio play, with great voice acting. The book is amazing as well of course.

I have a copy of the BBC television adaptation on VHS. It's low budget and corny, but in a very warm and appealing way (the guy who plays Zaphod is awesome, even though he has a awful mannequin head stuck on one of his shoulders!). Unfortunately, it ends with Arthur and Ford trapped on ancient Earth (with the marketing consultants and phone sanitizers). I think that takes place in the third book, can't really remember for sure, but in any case it doesn't make it through the end of the fourth book. I haven't read the fifth book that came out later.

[Malenko]

I thought it was the combo counter in guitar hero 3; looks just like it.
Nixie tube is much cooler though

[Hemi]

I was thinking about starting a thread about my avatar (and you guys, lets get everyone on the forum to make threads about their specific avatar, too) but I can just post it here instead.
 
How do you like mine, is it wonderful? 

[FrizzleFried]

I was wondering what the whole 24...24....24.... thing was.

 

[Level42]

I was thinking about starting a thread about my avatar (and you guys, lets get everyone on the forum to make threads about their specific avatar, too) but I can just post it here instead.
 
How do you like mine, is it wonderful? 

It's not about the avatar. It's about Nixies !

[dgame]

Once again Level42 has introduced something cool that I just had to have.

I never knew what a Nixie tube was until this thread. I've since spent too much time online reading about the various Nixie projects people have made.

As a result I have just bought one of these Nixie clocks:
http://www.kosbo.com/in18clock/

It is a six tube IN-18 Nixie clock. The feature I like the most about this one is the serial interface. Nixie high scoreboard perhaps? Display time remaining in the current WinAmp song? Hollywood style doomsday countdown? calculator display? Weather (Temperature) ticker? CPU temperature? Scrolling numbers?

The Nixie clock can only display characters 0-9 but all those things are possible using the PC to handle the logic and the clock as a simple six character display.

What I plan on doing is writing a program to display interesting numerical information with the Nixies. Sending ASCII over the serial port is easy to do. 

[punxrus]

Once again Level42 has introduced something cool that I just had to have.

I never knew what a Nixie tube was until this thread. I've since spent too much time online reading about the various Nixie projects people have made.

As a result I have just bought one of these Nixie clocks:
http://www.kosbo.com/in18clock/

It is a six tube IN-18 Nixie clock. The feature I like the most about this one is the serial interface. Nixie high scoreboard perhaps? Display time remaining in the current WinAmp song? Hollywood style doomsday countdown? calculator display? Weather (Temperature) ticker? CPU temperature? Scrolling numbers?

The Nixie clock can only display characters 0-9 but all those things are possible using the PC to handle the logic and the clock as a simple six character display.

What I plan on doing is writing a program to display interesting numerical information with the Nixies. Sending ASCII over the serial port is easy to do. 

Sweet! If I knew anything about electronics other than turning off a switch and electrocuting my dad while working on house wiring, this would be the perfect project for me! LOL!

[dgame]

The clock I ordered is already assembled – no soldering required. It is a fully functional clock it just needs a case to be safer.

I should be able to use the serial cable from my HP 48GX calculator to interface it.

The biggest thing about Nixies is the expensive tubes. I had a little sticker shock, but considering their increasing rarity and increasing price I decided to jump in before it got even more expensive.

This was the only complete clock (not kit) I found that included six  IN-18 tubes, which go for $35 each at http://tubehobby.com/show_det.php?det=6

Happily waiting for my clock to arrive. . .

[patrickl]

You could always install a freeware nixieclock on your Windows desktop

Or a modern "USB take" on the Nixie clocks from Brando



ok, so that's not even close, but then it's $70 instead of $400 to $500

BTW, how long are these things going to last? I see times mentioned of >5,000 or 10,000 hours. That means they would last about a year?

[AtomSmasher]

Anyone know if the nixie clock kits on ebay are any good?  They seem to be going around $60-100.  They do need assembly, but it should be pretty fun to put them together.

[Level42]

You could always install a freeware nixieclock on your Windows desktop

That's like running a vector game in MAME on an LCD monitor..........not the same thing


The kits I looked at from that German guy dim the tubes at night time (not sure how much). I have no clue, but I thought Neon's last 40.000 hrs. Indeed an interesting aspect to know....

B.t.w. Patrick, missed you at the collectorsfair ! It was great fun

Dgame: great you got inspired by this thread

When I'll buy one, it'll be a kit, I definitely want to assemble it myself, just for the fun of it. But the ready assembled are ideal for people who are not wanting to do it or have the possibility.

Big Nixies are beautiful Take some pics when you've got it at home/finished !

[patrickl]

Anyone know if the nixie clock kits on ebay are any good?  They seem to be going around $60-100.  They do need assembly, but it should be pretty fun to put them together.

Aren't they without the tubes? Or with small tubes?

[AtomSmasher]

Anyone know if the nixie clock kits on ebay are any good?  They seem to be going around $60-100.  They do need assembly, but it should be pretty fun to put them together.

Aren't they without the tubes? Or with small tubes?

Most of them do come with tubes, but it looks like your right, they do use small tubes (about 1/2 the size of the ones dgame linked to).  Any kits with medium or large tubes cost a fair amount more.

[dgame]

I priced a lot of them out and the one I linked cost £159 on eBay versus £199 on his site, it is the same product and person.

Level42: Yeah, I am a build it myself guy too but the kit and big tube combo would have cost more separately than the one I found. Six IN-18 Nixie tubes = $200 and IN-18 board (kit) = $100, plus shipping from two different sources. I paid about $300 shipped from a single source. And it still needs a case so I do get to build something.

AtomSmasher: Not sure about all of the ones on eBay, but some can be found online for similar prices at sites like http://tubehobby.com. I cross referenced the one I posted and found eBay to be cheaper for the exact same thing.

What I do is contact the seller on eBay with questions. If they answer in a timely manner I will consider buying, if not then I move on.

I almost bought this:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=230289206460
But instead I added a few more dollars and got the six tube one.

I will post pictures when it gets here. I have started working on the program to use the clock to display interesting numerical information when connected to my computer.
More on this later . . .